Spurs again bid Ferry goodbye

Spurs general manager R.C Buford couldn’t let Danny Ferry take off for Atlanta without a final parting shot.

“I don’t know how we’re going to make the pick at 59 without him,” Buford joked, referring to the Spurs’ slot in Thursday’s draft.

Ferry, the Spurs’ vice president of basketball operations during his second tour with the team, was named the new general manager of the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.

It was a day Buford had been anticipating since 2010, when Ferry returned to the Spurs after five mostly successful but somewhat tumultuous seasons as the general manager in Cleveland.

“I’m happy he’s found a program he’s excited to go lead,” Buford said.

It was a process that played out over a period of three months, with Atlanta co-owner Bruce Levenson estimating he had dozens of talks with Ferry as the two discussed what it would take to pry him loose from San Antonio.

Ferry, 45, spent the final three seasons of his playing career with the Spurs, winning a championship here in 2003. He spent two years post-retirement in the Spurs’ front office, and was on staff for another title in 2005.

The Spurs provided a soft landing for Ferry two summers ago, when he resigned from Cleveland not long after LeBron James’ public departure for Miami.

“I was not looking to leave San Antonio,” Ferry said at a news conference in Atlanta. “I was very happy there. … Obviously it’s a wonderful place to work. But getting to know Bruce over the past several weeks really made me think and challenge myself. Was this the right time and the right thing for me to do?”

Levenson said Ferry was the only candidate interviewed to replace Rick Sund, who will be stepping down when his contract is up July 1.

When Sund advised Levenson in March to begin searching for a successor, “the next morning I called the San Antonio Spurs and asked permission to talk to Danny,” Levenson said.

Ferry has accepted a six-year contract, signaling a bit of stability for a franchise that as recently as a year ago was on the market.

He arrives with quite a recommendation from his two-time former boss.

“Danny has always been a significant contributor to our program,” Buford said. “He helped create the culture of the Spurs. We’re excited for this opportunity for him, but we’re aware you never easily replace all the contributions Danny has made to this program.”

For the second time in two years, the Spurs have an opening in the front office. Ferry, after all, arrived just as Dell Demps was leaving for the general manager’s office in New Orleans.